Call Members of the Steering Committee Now

The purge of conservatives from key committees last week was not a natural disaster. It was perpetrated by leadership with the help of the rest of the 31 members on the Steering Committee. They all need to hear from us.

Let’s take a step back and analyze what occurred last week. It is not a normal occurrence for incumbent members in good standing to be thrown off their committees without warning. It’s certainly not normal for a top finance expert (David Schweikert) to be thrown off the Financial Services Committee or a top agriculture expert from a major farming district (Tim Huelskamp) to be tossed from the Agriculture Committee.

With that said, it is quite stupefying that almost none of the members have spoken out against the purge. After all, there were 31 members in the room when it happened. Would they like to divulge how they voted? Would they be willing to go on record as supporting the big government litmus test to sit on certain committees? Are they willing to tell us which votes were scored on the magical leadership scorecard?

Moreover, where are the other freshmen members of the House. Former Rep. Mark Neumann makes the point that the entire freshman class should send a letter to leadership asking that their colleagues be reinstated to their positions. That is what happened when he was thrown off the Appropriations Committee for butting heads with Newt Gingrich.

Tomorrow, the members of the Steering Committee will make their final decisions and conduct the final votes that will determine all of the committee assignments for the 113th Congress. There will be a push to reinstate the members who were deposed of their current assignments on account of their conservative voting records. Each one of these members, especially Paul Ryan, owes it to Republicans to divulge where he/she stands on this issue and how they plan to vote tomorrow. Nobody elected these people to raise the debt limit and to increase taxes. They need to explain why support for what is antithetical to our values should serve as a litmus test for committee assignments.

Make sure these members are held to account. Let us know what they say: